Futurama: "The Butterjunk Effect" Review

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"Reowr!"

By Max Nicholson

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode to follow.

In this week's "The Butterjunk Effect," Leela and Amy joined a female butterfly derby competition to blow off some cat fight steam. "Wait, the Butterfly Derby is when... and what?" Think female roller derby, but with butterfly wings and occasional pits of hot lava. And thanks to the girls' brief (and disastrous) experience working as Rockettes, they took to the gruesome sport almost immediately.

Of course, what's a competitive sports story without a little steroid exploration? Following their dismal downfall as an ambitious butterfly duo (comically narrated by Bender), Leela and Amy decided to "nectar" up. Unfortunately for their boyfriends Fry and Kif, this had not so desired consequences (like chair abuse). There were some pretty good bits throughout Leela and Amy's ambiguously controversial journey through addiction, and generally speaking, this is where most of the comedy stemmed from in the episode. But it wasn't until they decided to visit Kif's home world that this storyline really started to pick up. ("Let's go alreadaaay!")

It was fun getting another lecture from the Grand Midwife, who was now the Grand Butterfly Curator (this week). Kif's particularly heightened fear of Amy also lent to some enjoyable comedy. Bender's arbitrary inclusion in the addiction adventure also presented some hilarious moments, debatable the best of the episode. ("This planet's got it goin' on!") His presence as a side character almost always seems the most effective, especially when he's not directly involved in the main story arc.

As for the actual butterfly derby sequences, these definitely had their moments as well. The giant flyswatters and bug zappers made for nice sight gags to keep things interesting, and the choreography with the butterfly wings was surprisingly high-energy and creative. However, these scenes were mostly overshadowed by the nectar story arc, which I think was actually preferable here. The aforementioned visit to Kif's home world was easily the standout and felt the most like a classic Futurama episode.

Fry's transformation into a butterfly, however, seemed a little out of place. It all made sense (by Futurama's terms), but his inclusion in the final act just came off as a little hokey -- although, I suppose this is nothing new for the show. Plus, the final tag where he broke out of his butterfly "shell" was a fitting nod to how ridiculous the overall idea was. On the whole, the series has lacked on Leela/Amy bonding episodes, so this storyline was a welcome addition to the new season.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.